The Miko's Apprentice
by Akuma-Chibi
Summary: She was trained by the High Priestess, Keiko Asakura; brought up with the grace and manners of a lady, and taught to take nothing for granted. Leaving for En, to stay with Anna and Yoh, Keiko parts with her Apprentice with a few final words, "Life is what you make of it, so whatever you do, make it count."
1. Chapter 1

**The Miko's Apprentice**

**Summary: She was trained by the High Priestess, Keiko Asakura; brought up with the grace and manners of a lady, and taught to take nothing for granted. Leaving for En, to stay with Anna and Yoh, Keiko parts with her Apprentice with a few final words, "Life is what you make of it, so whatever you do, make it count."**

**Anime/Manga: Shaman King/InuYasha**

**Pairing: Kagome/?**

**Genre: Romance**

**Rated: M for Mature Content **

**-x-x-x-**

On her shoulder, the kanji for **Inari**; Kagome Higurashi was the Heiress of the Higura family line and a Miko of extensive purifying abilities. Trained by Keiko Asakura, the greatest of Miko's, bettered only by the Lady Midoriko herself, she was raised with the grace and mannerisms of a young lady. Inari, the name of the Kami of foxes, Inari Okami or Oinari, was the kami of fertility, rice, tea and sake, as well as agriculture and industry, general prosperity and worldly success and one of the principal kami of Shinto. This mark, she was born with, and its name was every part of her as she was it.

Kagome Higurashi, thirteen years old, her adventure starts nearly one month after her Sensei's son's departure, and that of his fiancés.

"You are not concentrating..."

Kagome sat cross-legged on the stone setting beside Keiko, her sensei. She didn't move or voice an argument to her sensei as she merely cleared her mind and focused on the energies of the earth and the aura's of the spirits and peoples around her.

"You will be leaving today to impart your own journey to En. Will you be okay?"

"I will be fine, Sensei. You have trained me well...you taught me everything that I know, and while you haven't taught me all that _you_ know, I will fair admirably with your teachings of current. Until there is a time that I must learn more, please have faith in my abilities thus far."

"Find Anna and Yoh, you will stay with them."

Kagome opened her eyes and looked at her teacher, smiling, she nodded and stood up. Bowing her head, a hand was placed on her shoulder and she looked up to see a smiling Keiko.

"You will do well out there, your mother would be proud, Kagome."

Kagome smiled, her mother...a topic dating back only three years. Her mother had passed away due to lung tuberculosis. It sucked, but she didn't cry. Keiko had been more of a mother than her biological mom. Rai Higurashi wasn't what Kagome would call cruel, but at four, she had sent her daughter away to train with a stranger, and she never visited except to see her one final time, a week prior to her death. "I'm sure she would be, but I do not aim to please my mother, I am to please the woman who has taken care of me for the past nine years. Thank you, Lady Keiko." Once more she bowed.

"...you are a blessing, Kagome. Father see's turmoil in your future...you...a guiding light, must be ready to make the stand and take on the challenge...you could easily change the future of many, if you so choose."

Kagome turned her eyes to her teacher, "What do you mean?"

Keiko pointed to the side, and she turned, watching curiously as a snake slither close to a small mouse before changing its mind about eating it and slither off in another direction. "Life is what you make of it, so whatever you do, make it count."

Kagome glanced up again, but Keiko was already walking off, heading in the direction of the shrine. Kagome thought curiously over her words, but said nothing in concerns to the ominous comment made by Keiko.

**-x-x-x-**

**(Midnight)**

Kagome walked silently through the forest as she followed her spirit guide. "Inari, are we nearing a natural spring and possibly a sprig of lavender or something equally soothing in smell?"

There before her, a spirit with long white hair running well past its waist and red markings similar to those on the Inari Fox Masks were on the spirits face and ran along the sleeves of the white Haori worn by the fox spirit. The Red Hakama's swayed gracefully with the spirits graceful movements, it's feet hidden by the fabric of the red Hakama's. The spirit fox stopped and spared a glance back at her. "We are nearby a natural hot spring...will that be satisfactory to your needs?"

"More than..."

"As for lavender, I smell none...but there is a sprig of Basil nearby."

Kagome gave the spirit a deadpanned expression, "I don't want to smell like lunch, Inari."

"Yes, of course. But Basil's guiding planet is Mars, and it just so happens to be Mars's rotational month, as it will be in clear view to the humans who have the means to see it. Also, Basil has been used for many centuries for aura cleansing, purification, ceremonial cleansing of sacred space and it helps to attract spirit beings. You could use some more spirit guides, I'm sure. Then it also helps bring out ones courage and inner strength. It's used for relaxing and revitalizing. Basil is revered as a sacred herb all over the world. I believe, in the Hindu religion it is sacred to both Vishnu and Krishna. Mind you, you shouldn't use it if you are pregnant...but seeing how you are not, it should be fine."

"...I better be all that and a bag of chips, cuz I really don't feel all that thrilled about walking through a dark forest smelling like someone's well-seasoned lunch." Kagome followed her grinning spirit guide to the hot spring, behind her, a white fox followed her every step. "By the way, how do you know where are planetary rotational orbit is right now?"

Inari shrugged, "I just do,"

"Right...and here I thought I was the one being trained as a cleric, was Lady Keiko holding back on me?"

Inari smiled charmingly at Kagome, "I believe Lady Keiko taught you all that is required...you must now teach yourself all that remains unlearned."

'_...yeah...but that means trying to learn with supposed turmoil in my future...and on top of that...Anna will be there!'_

**-x-x-x-**

**Me: Here is chapter one! I just started chapter two of walking on air! Love you guys~! If you have something specific which you want me to update, drop me a review! **


	2. Chapter 2

**The Miko's Apprentice**

**Summary: She was trained by the High Priestess, Keiko Asakura; brought up with the grace and manners of a lady, and taught to take nothing for granted. Leaving for En, to stay with Anna and Yoh, Keiko parts with her Apprentice with a few final words, "Life is what you make of it, so whatever you do, make it count."**

**Anime/Manga: Shaman King/InuYasha**

**Pairing: Kagome/?**

**Genre: Romance**

**Rated: M for Mature Content **

**-x-x-x-**

"It's going to rain...we should hurry and find shelter." Kagome sighed as she stood. Her comment had caught Inari's attention; the fox beside her spirit sniffed the air but stood all the same.

"Is that what you see?"

Kagome poured dirt over the fire they had built and turned her attention back to her spirit guardian. "It's what I saw,"

Inari nodded, trusting the girls' ability. She'd always been gifted with the sight of a cleric, hence the training Keiko had been giving her.

Finding shelter was a simple job that found the three in a cave a short distance away. The cave itself was a good three feet off the plain, keeping them dry if the rain caused any short amount of flooding.

"Sleep, Kagome...tomorrow, we will be arriving, and I'm sure no amount of training can ease the trepidation Miss. Anna causes."

Kagome glared at her Guardian Spirit who merely smiled before disappearing into the mortuary stone tablet which Kagome had strapped to her hip. "...Anna..." Kagome mentally cried at the thought of the Spiritual Medium before letting the sound of the soft rainfall pattering at the stone ground outside, lull her to sleep.

**-x-x-x-**

**(Elsewhere, Next Day)**

Anna watched her fiancé as he did one hundred squats, grabbing a pair of weights to add to his already thirty on each leg and arm.

"Yoh~!"

She turned at the calling of her favorite mini human being to which she could control and force into doing chores. She honestly didn't care for hiring a housekeeper, and had no intention of doing it herself, or interrupting Yoh's training, so Manta was quite the little godsend in retrospect. "Good, you're here." She smirked when he jumped and slowly turned to face her from where he stood in the back yard watching Yoh. Yoh spared him an apologetic glance before returning to his own torture. "Here," She handed him a slip of paper.

"What is this?"

"...just a few things I'd like done before you make dinner."

"Just...a few things..." he glanced over the paper, _"Dishes, mop, clean onsen, sweep outside, clean windows, beat futons...groceries...make dinner._ JUST A FEW?! ANNA~!_"_

Anna turned a fierce glare to Manta who shrunk and waved his hands defensively, "J-just kidding Anna, I'll get started right away!"

Anna watched him scurry along and soundlessly made her way to her fiancé. Her mind played that word over in her head the way she usually did. _Fiancé_, the word always left her feeling light on her feet, she wasn't sure how she should feel, but she was content with this lighthearted feeling she always got when she thought about Yoh...not that she'd ever let him know.

"Put these on,"

Yoh looked questioningly at what Anna held in her hands before his eyes widened and he fell back in shock. "M-more?"

"I will be the wife of the Shaman King, Yoh, and that's going to be you. This however won't happen if you're going to slack off."

"Yes, but...I mean, Anna...If I don't become Shaman King...will you still be my wife?" He only asked out of curiosity.

Anna blushed and looked away, hands still holding out the weights. "Just take the weights!"

Yoh smiled at her and took the weights, "Alright Anna,"

"Awe~ how cute."

The two turned to see standing by the house, a girl in the standard miko garbs.

"It's a treat to see Anna blush, considering I've never seen her show any real human emotions besides scorn and contempt...she must really like you Yoh."

Yoh blushed, "Hey Kagome."

"Kagome..."

Kagome smiled, "Ah," she looked to the blonde, "back to impassive, huh."

Anna glared hatefully at Kagome who merely sighed and shrugged. They had never seen eye to eye; never got along. For as long as Kagome could remember, they had been at odds, with everything. Half the time it was because of Yoh, and the rest of the time was because of petty arguments. Where Yoh was concerned, Anna would get jealous with the attention Yoh paid Kagome, or, the conversations they so easily shared. Kagome knew, and she exploited this fact to its fullest potential.

Yoh was oblivious to Anna's _special_ type of hate towards Kagome. He just figured she was treating her same as she did everyone else, but Kagome knew better. "Yoh!" Kagome ran forward and hugged the happy-go-lucky boy who returned the hug just as happily. When she pulled away, she smiled, "How's training going?"

"Ah...it's going."

Anna cleared her throat, "It's continuing too, Kagome, join me for tea."

Kagome nodded and closed her eyes, still smiling as she waved farewell to Yoh who went back to his training. _'Tea...yeah, I'm sure.'_

**-x-x-x-**

Kagome followed Anna inside and smiled as she immediately turned once she heard the door slide shut behind Kagome.

"Why are you here?!"

"Mad?"

"You know well enough!"

Kagome grinned, "Lady Keiko sent me, said I'd be staying and traveling with...you and Yoh. Yay...aren't we excited?"

Anna scoffed, "No, _we_ are not. Now...make yourself useful, make some tea."

Kagome laughed, "Right," she vacated the living room and walked into the kitchen. Making tea was an act of repetition; after years of doing so, she was a master at Tea ceremonies.

Now, Kagome had learned long ago, that while talking bravely to Anna might get you slapped if you are a guy, she tend to be more sympathetic towards females. Did that work for Kagome? Not always, but Kagome also knew when to pull back on the reigns so not to overstep her boundaries. She also knew that Anna was just waiting for her to make a mistake so that she could take out her frustrations on her. However, Kagome never made mistakes, she just ran her mouth.

She poured two cups and delivered them to the living room where she prepared herself for silence and sitting patiently in the presence of Anna while waiting for Yoh to finish his training. Absently, she wondered where Inari and her fox friend had run off to.

**-x-x-x-**

**Me: here is the next chapter to The Miko's Apprentice! I hope you all enjoy! I probably won't get much updated tomorrow, I'm going to Sea World, but Monday, I'm off, so I'll be doing some writing and updating while I'm home, nyan~!**


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